You may love the morning ritual of the paper and coffee, as I do, but do you seriously think that this deserves a subsidy? . . . If your concern is grander — that if we don’t save traditional newspapers we will lose information vital to democracy — you are saying that people should get this information whether or not they want it. That’s an unattractive argument: shoving information down people’s throats in the name of democracy.

Despite the aura of heroic young enterprise that still miraculously attaches to the web, what we are seeing is a much older and toxic capitalist model — the classic monopoly that destroys industries and individual enterprise in its bid for ever greater profits. Despite its diversification, Google is in the final analysis a parasite that creates nothing, merely offering little aggregation, lists and the ordering of information generated by people who have invested their capital, skill and time.

A VC: Fred Wilson notes Rupert Murdoch’s statements last week that Google is stealing “all our copyrights” and that the answer was to say “thanks, but no thanks” to Google:

But here’s the thing. Google is distribution. It is the newsstand. If Rupert or any other newspaper owner chooses to take its content out of the Google index, there will be plenty of content left that can take its place. . . .

News and information content is becoming much richer and better. And that is Rupert problem at the end of the day. It’s not that he can’t compete with Google. It’s that he can’t compete with us.

Producers of energy, such as Russia and Iran may then — in exchange for value received–issue Units redeemable either in electricity, or in “energy vector” fuels such as gasoline, heating oil, fuel oil and above all natural gas, which all have a fixed value denominated in energy.

I believe that it is only through the use of an energy standard — rather than a fiat currency or gold — that the transition from carbon-based fuels to renewable energy may be painlessly made, and in so doing, allow the US, and other nations to repay their energy, and other resource debts.

Defense and the National Interest publishes a note on Iraq from an anonymous “top defense analyst”:

My intel friends have been watching this development in Iraq for the past several weeks. They insist everything is unraveling behind the scenes. They say it is not just a matter of money drying up — rather, the Shi’ites are soaking up all the money to keep their own militias and Shi’a-heavy “national” units loyal and willing to begin the unavoidable / inevitable Shi’a crackdown on the Kurds and Sunnis.

Independent: Robert Fisk says that President Obama is distancing himself from the very clear statements that Candidate Obama made about the 1915 Armenian genocide:

“At this moment,” Mike Hammer, a White House National Security Council spokesman, said last month, “our focus is on how, moving forward, the US can help Turkey and Armenia work together to come to terms with the past”. That Mr Obama should allow such a statement to be made, along with the usual weasel clichés about “moving forward” and “coming to terms”, speaks volumes.

Food Politics: Marion Nestle reports that a study in German schools reported a 31% decrease in the risk of obesity in students by installing more water fountains and limiting access to sugary drinks:

Could we try this here? The barriers are formidible. First, the water fountain problem. Water fountains must (a) be present, (b) be usable, (c) be clean and sanitary, and (d) produce water that is free of harmful chemicals and bacteria. All of these are problematic. . . .

And then there is the soda problem. Schools in Germany do not have vending machines all over the place and kids do not have access to sodas, juice drinks, and other such things all day long. Ours do.

It’s true, if Obama does not use the term Armenian Genocide clearly and openly, like he promised, he has already resorted to business as usual in Washington.

How sad that Turkey can completely close their land border with Armenia, and refuse to even open an embassy or establish any diplomatic relations for almost 20 years, and now use that as a threat against Armenia and the US. “If Washington talks about the genocide, we will continue to not have relations with Armenia” is the message being sent, and apparently heeded.

94 years have passed since the genocide. The “right time” to recognize it and not pussyfoot around the issue was from the day one. Let’s stop caving in to the demands of these massive human rights violators and start a new era of “realpolitik”. If it really happened, we’re really going to talk about it.

As a technologist, I love Google, but it is just a search engine not a content generating independent news orgnization. Credible content needs go come from somewhere or else we’re just going to be fed recycled propoganda and conjecture.

Investigative reporting takes substantial resources. Puliter quality work and long feature pieces will not be produced,and despite the best of intentions, amatuer “citizen reporters” with their cell phone cameras can’t be expected to produce the same quality of information as professional journalists.

I really think we need to protect the forth estate in order to protect our democracy. The practice of pubishing a physical newspaper might be at risk, but the content is vital. Not all content is equal.

It seems silly to expect President Obama to get up onto the podium while visiting Turkey and start by referring to the genocide in Armenia, which the Turks strenuously deny. This would accomplish nothing. Hopefully, his overtures will open a dialogue that will eventually end this standoff of 94 years.

Also, just how does one go about getting to the “truth” on this topic? The U.S. doesn’t exactly admit to the genocide of the native people of this country, so why would we expect the Turks to do that?

1. Google generates maps, and photos in its “streetview” which I believe was their own doing.
2. Google generates translations, ditto
3. probably other stuff.

In terms of genocide, we should, as Tom notes, first recognize that out of the gate with our “Pilgrims” and “Puritans” Americans in large part have been a murderous, mendacious, deceitful and hypocritical bunch of greedy rapacious racists. Once we are ready to talk about that openly, only then should we be critical of others publicly.

There has to be some solution to the rapidly vanishing newspaper. The vast majority of good blogs, which are a vast minority of available blogs, are running commentary on other people’s work. They are not news reporting.

If we keep losing newspapers, there won’t be much for the blogosphere to blahg about. Local news will come only from TV stations, whose idea of investigative journalism is generally not the stuff of Pulitzers. And how will local TV news fill its half hour if there’s no local paper to crib from?

The non-profit idea being promoted by Sen. Ben Cardin of my home state is worth exploring seriously. Besides, I want to see my old friends still in the biz have to man telephones during the telethons.

Wasn’t the genocide a product of the Ottoman Empire? I thought it didn’t exist anymore. The best way to remember past genocides is to stop current ones like in Darfur. Create conditions to prevent them in the future.

re: FOOD POLITICS- “Could we try this here? The barriers are formidible. First, the water fountain problem. Water fountains must (a) be present, (b) be usable, (c) be clean and sanitary, and (d) produce water that is free of harmful chemicals and bacteria. All of these are problematic. . . .”

Are you kidding? These are non-issues. Put in a water fountain. Its that simple.

I think you are correct about Google–just a re-packager of other people’s work for profit. It is time for the government to look in on these folks. Certainly the business over copying complete books from willing libraries violates many copyrights–where were the universities to protect our intellectual property rights? They were making a buck! Currently, public domain is material printed before 1923. Period. End of Sentence. they don’t seem to understand so one wonders how educational systems can instill morals in their students.
Dave

Growing up in the United States, I was discomfitted by the general prohibition of religion and politics as topics for “polite” conversation. I was well aware that it was more or less commonplace for Europeans to sit around tables discussiing political issues and vigorously expressing their views. When I eventually made it to Europe, I was not the least put off by such displays. On the contrary, it made me yearn even more for change in America.

And I am even more disturbed by the difficulties encountered by today’s newspapers. I have been trying to think of ways to boost sales, like giving the mere possession of today’s Times the strength of a discount coupon in stores and restaurants of their advertisers.

One approach to solving both of my above concerns might be to schedule appearances at restaurants and cafes of journalists and op-ed columnists from the local papers to lead discussions about important news or political issues.
Such collations might wet people’s appetites for consuming the printed works of the columnists and might even boost profits at the establishments where they meet.
And some attendees would be tempted to buy papers to see if their own comments appeared in print.

But the most heartening news I’ve seen was the March 29 announcement of Arianna Huffington’s venture to support investigative journalism: “Huffington Post Investigative Fund.” I thank Ms Huffington and encourage all who value newspapers as I do to contribute their own ideas to helping our newspapers to survive and thrive.

People who are internet “journalists” generally do not leave their rooms or their computers. They have no “sources” outside of those the internet gives them. They are not journalists.

When Jefferson spoke of the importance of information in a democracy, he was right. But he did not mean misinformation. A couple of hours of browsing the internet will provide you unending examples or idiocy and outright dishonesty. It is more difficult, though not impossible, to do that with most newspapers.

The information available from most internet sites is either gossip, propaganda, or both.

As with many changes, we will not be able to understand the effects of the loss of newspapers until they are gone. We will then get out information from people who could just as well be eighth graders as anything else. I hope those are eighth graders are at least honest and not naive.

I’ve tried NYTimes on my kindle, but the format was unsatisfactory although I’ve no problem reading books on the device. Perhaps a larger format (even my 22″ monitor isn’t completely satisfactory) of flexible electronic plastic and digital ink will at some point replace the present newsprint. At that point, only the information (and advertising) will change day to day and at reduced pricing for consumers but with the same bottom line for the news organizations

Newspapers vs. Google vs. Newspapers… Back when I was a journalism student in college park (umd), Dr. Petrick told us someday we would get our newspapers over the tube and could even talk back to it. (!!!) The loss of a physical newspaper was expected. Good things about it, right upfront. No more black ink on your fingers, no more trees going down, no more gas used to deliver it.

Of course, it’s so much more than that. We lose editors. Editors who shape content, as in what gets on the frontpage (say, 911) and what gets buried (say, the holocaust through the early 1940’s). In full health, a big strapping paper was a big strapping news gathering machine, reporters stationed in far-flung places who knew the area they covered, the culture, and how it all might fit into the grand puzzle. But those types of correspondents have been drying up for at least the last decade, boiling down to the few hardboiled, the few embedded glams.

Worse, wire services have been bought up, shamelessly spun. UPI, now a Rev. Moonie operation. But et tu, AP? Faxes from the far right have been feeding Congress since the 90’s, posing and accepted as gospel. Rupert Murdoch’s Faux News now owns The Wall Street Journal. So the crud has been eating away at journalism in a big MRSA way. And, as science warns us, corporate pork farming is dangerous to humans.

Radio: deliberately dominated by the far right. Clearchannel bought up the majority of stations and the FCC changed the rules that protected us from such vultures. Who listens to it? Truck drivers, night watchmen… The ones who turn on FOX news when they get couch-wise with a brew.

And then we have THE INTERNET. Shiny! Ruled by their own thirst and hunger, individuals used it to sort through the dark wall of the Bush years. We got it right on 13 Myths because we could search and connect directly to sources. Some even connected to us. Sure, the Free Republic has its few, ready and eager to be part of the disinformed, willing to turn from truth and fair and good just so Jaysus might return to save them (and annihilate you)… But there’s also Talking Points Memo, which brought down Gonzo and helped George Allen bring his own veryself to ruin. Buzzflash has been tireless. Wateringholes formed from e-mailers who formed into e-lists… Because folks began checking things out.

Thank the gods, Google was there to search. But those searches, imho, have been harder to negotiate, less able to help penetrate the wall of late. Interested parties buy up search words, saturate and drown information. And — the biggest potential for suffocation — who chooses what stories go up on the google news page? That’s the power google is capable of having over news. The power of an editor.

Thus we become our own editor. And just at the time that the good old liberal arts education — which is what it takes to even begin to see your way to how things might connect; to begin to understand how much there might be involved in knowing, and in knowing that you can never begin to know all of it; the humility such knowing of your own limits which that necessary enlightenment might bring — our students have been taking business degrees. MBA’s. Pure tech…

I remember reading Reader’s Digest in a doc’s waiting room, a story about a insightful man in an ER who made a casual poetical comment — something from the Bard or maybe Moby Dick or Robbie Burns — to the tech who was taking his vitals. Next thing he knew, the psychiatric staff descended on him. Ignorant of his casual insightful aside, they thought he was suicidal.

Interesting turn of plot, all this. Who will write the history? Will any of it have existed at all?

“And then there is the soda problem. Schools in Germany do not have vending machines all over the place and kids do not have access to sodas, juice drinks, and other such things all day long. Ours do.”

Public schools in affluent neighborhoods have already dealt with this problem by replacing sugary drinks with bottled water in school vending machines.

America continues to fail to recognize that the nation has two public school systems. One public school system in this nation has the resources to deal with problems in public schools, while the other public school system is totally lacking the resources to deal with problems.

Public schools in affluent neighborhoods do not have problems regarding the safety of children in public schools, or the problems of large number of children who do not speak English.

Public schools in neighborhoods that are not affluent have both of these problems and do not have the resources to deal with them.

The notion that Google is “just an amoral menace“ and that “Google is in the final analysis a parasite that creates nothing” is truly, stunningly ignorant. Ignorant of a whole host of concepts ranging from what is the internet, to what is information and on to the entire concept of advertising. Let me ask the OP, is your local public library also an amoral menace and a parasite? Of course not. The notion is stupid in the extreme. I suggest the OP do some research into how Google actually operates, specifically with regard to Google books as well as Google data centers etc. These are services for which Google has payed a tremendous price in development. These are services which make all of our internet use far more effective. They are services for which Google has every capitalist right to earn a reasonable profit.

As a senior citizen with disability, I thank the internet-medium – particularly the very well organized Google, for establishing in my home the largest-ever library in the world and introducing me to age-old ideas/books/philosophical concepts that were out of reach to me until the last decade. I am being educated like never before. Always, I knew what I needed; with the help of Google, I now know where to get it, get it and become enlightened. If I choose wrong, it’s my fault by getting the wrong book from the library. — krishnaswa

No, the genocide was not perpetrated by the Ottomans, but by the Young Turks, the very founders of the modern Turkish state.

How can a nation have the courage to stop a genocide in progress, when it lacks the courage to acknowledge one that happened almost a century ago? There is a direct connection between our inability to act in Darfur now, and our inability to take a principled stand on the issue of the Armenian genocide.

Truth has no ‘sell by’ date. Those who would deny it for matters of political expediency will be judged accordingly, in due time.

It is shameful that Turkey continues to deny the Armenian genocide, but this is a Turkish problem not an American problem. Having Obama create a diplomatic firestorm by
bringing up this topic on Turkish soil will only alienate Turkey
and accomplish nothing. The Turks are aware of what Obama said in the past and appreciate that he in turn is
aware of their extreme sensitivity on this subject.

As an American-Armenian I ceased being offended by US presidential side steps around the Genocide. As a military power we need Turkey as our ally, as a government trying to foster good will with the Islamic world we need Turkey as an example. The govt. of the US will allow Turkey to ignore reality as long as it likes. I don’t expect the US govt. to muck up relations with a major Mid-East ally over events 100 years in the past.
Everybody, but the government of Turkey, acknowledges that the Genocide was real and terrible. One needn’t see too many pictures of crucified Armenian mothers to believe this is so.
Someday they will admit the truth, there’s a movement well on it’s way to this end in Turkey itself, and America can sell Turkey bombs to drop on Kurds without upsetting Armenians.

Why don’t local newspapers publish on the internet, and we can access it with our smartphones and computers? Online subscriptions. It saves paper at least, and keeps providing the services of the newspapers we still hold dear.

why oh why does the ny times iignore the real news about our messiah. he disses our beautiful country while pandering to the nations we have helped forever. every day something new comes out of his mouth , yesterday he said unahamedly we are not a Christian nation. god help us all under this president. he literally scares the hell out of me.

Well, I agree with AbeR that “Credible content needs go come from somewhere or else we’re just going to be fed recycled propoganda and conjecture.”

But unfortunately newspapers have, for the most part, adbicated their responsibility to do so. In their rush to keep up with the 24 hour, blog driven news cycle, their reporting has suffered. Investigative content is not nearly as extensive or high quality as it once was, a large percentage of other content is just AP feeds, and blogs make up the difference.

If newspapers wish to remain relevant, they need to stop trying to compete with blogs in the speed-to-press department and start focusing on their strength, which is of course investigative journalism. Right now, their investigative content is so small that aggregators are useful because the identify the few useful nuggets from a given source so that the reader doesnt have to plough through 10 BS stories to get to the one good one.